It’s not often that we get a picture of Islamic extremism flowing from the heartland of America, and this picture is worth looking closely at.

Fatuma Noor is an award-winning journalist who writes for the Nairobi Star in Kenya, and she ran into a group of young Americans on their way to fight for Al-Qaeda in Somalia. Fatuma starts her article out this way:

It all started when a mother called to inquire about the whereabouts of her 18-year-old son Nuno Ahmed whom she believed was in Nairobi and had plans of going to Mogadishu. “He left with his three friends and I have just found out that they are going back home,” she told me when she called from her home in Minnesota, US. “I would rather he is arrested and stays in a Kenyan prison than let him go back to Mogadishu and die there,” she says as if pleading for my help.

All told, Nuno and his friends came to nine young men from the US, Canada, Sweden and Kenya. Fatuma goes on to describe the bios of each of the young men:

Nuno Ahmed – Minnesota

Abikar Mohamed – Minnesota

Abdirahman Gullet – Minnesota

Adan Hussein – Minnesota

Abdinassir Osman – Ohio

Ali Mohamud – Ohio

Omar Hassan – Canada

Khalif Abdi – Sweden

Mukhtar Abdi – Kenya

Her insightful glimpse into the minds young American muslims should act as yet another wake-up call. And, she almost lost her life making it.

When are we going to wake up and realize that our attempt at multi-culturalism has failed?

When are we going to wake up and realize that we are in an ideological war, and that we are losing?

When are we going to wake up and realize that there are ideologies that are incompatible with democratic societies?

When are we going to wake up and realize that we have enemies that want us dead, and have been given the means to accomplish their desires?

We learned this the hard way with the Nazis before World War II. We learned this the hard way with the communists of the Soviet Union. And, we are in the midst of learning it the hard way with Islam.

I’m truly sorry for all the peaceful, law-abiding Muslims who just want to provide for their families. Most Muslims just want to give their kids a good education and a better life. They want grandchildren and a piece of the American Dream.

Remember the mother of Nuno Ahmed, above? She called all the way from Minnesota to Nairobi desperately looking for her son, trying to get him back. But, she wasn’t going to get him back because she’d already lost her son to the core principles of Islam – the same core principles that she and her husband had undoubtedly been trying to get away from. Unfortunately for her, Islam has a long arm, and it preys upon the minds of children.

Nuno and his friends joined Al-Qaeda because they are ‘true believers’, and Islam is NOT about peace. If you need proof, just read the books of the Quran and the Hadith. And, if that’s not enough, look at the list of these young men. They all came from Minnesota and Ohio – yet they were radicalized just the same.

How many more young men have been just as radicalized but chose to stay home and fight for Al-Qaeda from their home towns?

And, how are we going to undo this menace without destroying the principles that made the United States the greatest nation in the history of the world?